Spirit in the Sky
by hypercamera3
Summary: Kamala Khan is given the opportunity to spend a week in space with the Guardians of the Galaxy. From there, hilarity and a bit of soul-searching ensue. [This is a very simple little story, exploring a little bit of social media with the Marvel heroes and allowing me to put Ms. Marvel in a totally new kind of setting.]


The last thing that was ever on her list of things to become? An astronaut. For one reason or another, the idea of rocketing into the black void had never interested her. She thought that there was simply something more wonderful, more miraculous, about observing the stars from Earth. She was happy that she had been chose to be a part of something _bigger_. But, there was something comforting in the knowledge that she was still so _small_ in the universe. As often as she would let her mind wander into the stars for a fanfic or a casual daydream, she never once considered the idea of exploring the galaxy.

Then, Wolverine had given her a call. Instead of a scheduled field trip to Philadelphia for the week, Kamala found herself in New York, getting suited up for space flight in Stark tower (though she still packed for a field trip: toothbrush, pajamas, teddy bear, and all). At the time, her biggest fear was that Bruno wouldn't be able to continue covering for her. All she had been informed was that there was some big, bad thing out in space, and the Guardians needed assistance. Wolverine said that the assistance they required matched "your particular skillset."

Kamala had donned her spacesuit and Ms. Marvel gear, prepared for anything. The spaceship landing on Stark tower freaked her out again, however. The talking raccoon and the giant tree did not help her case any, but she discovered that the tree was a sweetheart.

Soon after, she was up, up, and away.

Turns out that they hadn't needed her. By the time they arrived, the issue (a too-big-for-his-britches criminal who was trying to build some fancy machine) had been sorted out by Nova.

"Well, our plan," Star-Lord tried to explain to him, "was to have our partner Ms. Marvel, here, shrink down, get inside and take the core out. We were expecting someone on the level of Ronan-levels."

"Should'a just called me. Happy to crash a party," Nova answered with a grin.

They returned back to the _Milano_ , while Nova took the thug back to the Nova Corps.

* * *

Star-Lord's sigh spoke for all the awkward silences in the ship. Eventually, he apologized. "Sorry for wasting your time, miss. Let's get you back home."

"No!" Kamala interjected, a little louder than she intended. "I mean, it's cool, honestly!"

"It's warm here," Drax thought outloud.

"That's not– Look, I _really_ wanna be here, it's awesome. And scary. But awesome! And, besides, I'm free for another Earth week, so…" Kamala looked around at the five Guardians. They stayed silent for a time. Until Drax, with a look of confusion, broke the silence.

"You would have a price tag for your assistance otherwise?" Drax questioned.

Rocket groaned his annoyance.

* * *

The week had passed. Star-Lord had helped Kamala set up some Galactic bank account so that he could give her a share of the credits they earned on each mission throughout the week. Where she would spend them, Kamala had no clue. (It was also during this that the two finally shared their real names with one another.) The Guardians (featuring Ms. Marvel) hopped from one system to the next, intercepting various messages from galactic police forces. From the Nova Corps to men with fancy glowing rings, the Guardians would help clean up their messes and make some credits to split between the six.

Between the battling, Ms. Marvel found other ways to enjoy the trip. She discovered that, with some of Rocket's tinkering, she could still access her Earth internet. It made her intent on two things: reading the updates to her favorite Avengers fanfics and beating Spider-Man in their ongoing Vine war. She planned to outdo his videos at every turn. She took a couple of videos of the stars and planets they passed. A couple of videos and selfies with the various members of the crew. People seemed to be most fascinated the recording of her Scrabble game. Groot won.

No Vine from her blew up as fast as the Hyperspace one.

* * *

"Everyone ready? We got seven seconds, one shot," she reminded everyone. The camera was in perfect selfie position. It caught her (just barely), and all of the Guardians. Groot was a little out of frame, but they could make due. They had been trying to get this right every time they were going to hit hyperspace.

"We are ready, young Terran," Gamora assured her.

Kamala pressed record. This would be all the Earthlings would see:

"Space travel!" Ms. Marvel announced.

"Sector Zeta-Bee-Six Coordinates locked-on," Rocket informed.

"Power to thrusters," Drax said, flipping a switch.

"Hyperspace shielding activated," Gamora reported, turning two handles clockwise.

"I am Groot!" Groot confirmed, reaching down to hit the Hyperspace travel button.

"Sick beats: engaged!" Star-Lord tapped a 'play' button out-of-frame.

The heroes were shadowed by the initial darkness of space, then continuously flashed by the blinding, multicolored stars they passed. While the universe's natural spotlights shined down upon them, the group started sending their fists into the sky as music filled the cockpit.  
As the music hit, they all chanted loudly: "OOGA-CHAKA, OOGA-OOGA, OOGA-CHAKA! OOGA-CHAKA, OOGA-OOGA–" And, briefly, any viewers could hear Star-Lord harmonizing: "I CAN'T STOP THIS FEELIN–"

Before the video cuts and loops back to the beginning.

* * *

For helping set up the bank account, Kamala helped Peter set up a few social media accounts for the Guardians of the Galaxy. Most were simply titled GOTG. Eventually, Star-Lord would tell everyone about these accounts and their uses, but not before using it for, mostly, pranks, on his own, for a few months. The GOTG channel would also be the beginning of "Star-Lord listens to…," which saw Star-Lord giving a listen to the Earth pop songs of the month.

* * *

Another day, while she was fast asleep in the corner of the ship they had named hers, Gamora came to her. Gamora shook her arm gently. "Kamala Khan," she beckoned gently.

"Not now, Lockjaw, I need to save the rubber ducky from the raamaa– zZzZzZzZ."

The assassin shook her more firmly. "Please, wake!" she nearly shouted into the young heroine's ear.

"Huh! Oh.. Gamora, what is it?" Kamala lifted her mask and rubbed her eyes.

"Come, Kamala. See something truly spectacular," she implored. Gamora stood and walked towards the cockpit.

Kamala rose, yawning, and smoothed the wrinkles out of her pajamas, out of habit. She wandered through the ship, following the green-skinned assassin. She passed Peter Quill, who had fallen asleep beneath his jacket and was snoring louder than anyone else. She spotted Drax asleep on a stool, muttering something in his sleep. Rocket was curled up in a ball, not too far away, using Groot's chest as a bed. Groot was wide awake, simply lying still. He looked at the passing human and said, "I am Groot."

Kamala gave a smile and a passing wave his way.

Her eyes began to hurt as she approached the cockpit, something shone powerfully through the glass. She rubbed her eyes again and let them slowly adjust.

Then, she saw it. It was like a shattered crystal ball, or the eye of God looking down on her. Colors seemed to be jettisoned from the center, like they were fleeing across the stars. Even more, they were colors that she wasn't even aware existed. Shades of yellow, orange, blue, green, and violet that seemed as though, in any other instance, they would be garish. Here, however, they melded together into some unimaginably, complex, alluring cosmic rainbow. Most of it brought the reminders of fine silk to her mind. As she followed the shape, outward to inward, she noticed how the colors began to pale. The patterns formed by the paling colors recalled memories of some sandblasted rocks she had seen in a market on a long-ago vacation to Karachi. Then. there was only darkness passed those pale colors. That was the pupil. At the center of the pupil, the focal point of this shattered snowglobe, there was a single glowing blue dot. Compared to rest of the sight, it was barely anything, yet she couldn't look away. It reminded her of being small. Being small in something huge, but how important that could be.

It reminded her of _home_.

"This is as close as we could safely get to this supernova remnant," Gamora explained. "I thought it was something you would like to see, Kamala Khan."

"Gamora," the teenager stumbled on her words for a second. "It's beautiful."

She lifted her phone, hoping to get a picture, but it just couldn't capture it all.

* * *

"– _I gotta friend in Jesus! So, you know, that when I die, he's gonna set me up with the Spirit in the Sky!"_

Peter singing over the intercom was the alert that they were entering a familiar Solar System. The week had come to an end, and now they were here to deliver Kamala back to the planet she belonged on. He warned them that they would be within range to contact Iron Man after Norman Greenbaum's song.

Kamala had finished packing up her things and fitted herself back into her normal costume. The end of this little excursion left her with about twenty thousand Galactic Credits that she still had no idea how to use. It also left her with a lot of new followers across her social media accounts. All-in-all, this was a victory.

" _That's where I'm gonna go when I die! When I die and they lay me to rest, I'm gonna go to the place that's the best! ...Go to the place that's the best!"_

There was silence for a while. Then, "This is your captain speaking. I'm sorry to announce that the silky smooth sound of Star-Lord radio has come to an end. Please prepare yourselves as we enter Terran zone and prepare for eventual landing."

He set the ship to low-burn and spun his chair around.

Kamala was in the middle of saying her goodbyes.

"Make sure you spend those credits on something good, alright, kid?" Rocket informed her.

"I'll make you proud, Mr. Raccoon." She performed a mock salute and he returned it.

Groot came over to her and held a flower between his fingertips. It looked like a daisy, but it sure as heck wasn't one. "I am Groot?"

Kamala took it and set it above her ear. "I'm happy to accept it. I'll miss both of you!"

"I am Groot!" Groot announced. He lifted Rocket up and the two made their way back to the thruster controls.

Drax came up after them. "It was enjoyable serving with you. You are a most brave warrior." That was just about all he said before going back to sharpen his blades.

"Forgive him," Gamora intervened. "He is more a man of action than of words."

"He looked really cool, though."

"I suppose. Still, he is correct. You are a fine warrior, and it has been nice to have you aboard." Gamora pulled the Jersey girl into a hug, which only slightly threw her guard off.

Still, Kamala returned the hug, "Thank you, Gamora," before watching her pace back to her station.

"And," Star-Lord began once he reached her, "You're a valued member of the team, mostly because you were the most fun member." He handed her a palm-sized piece of plastic, which projected holographic data. "You can use those to get in contact with the _Milano_ at any time. For help, or just to chat, we'll be happy to have you. Peter, at least, opened his arms and gave her a choice.

A choice which Kamala was happy to make, hugging him tight. "Thanks for letting me stay."

"I saw the look in your eye. Excited, hoping for adventure. Ready for whatever the universe wanted to throw at you. Reminded me of when I first got brought up here."

"Is there anything you wish you would have gotten to do on Earth?"

"My mom really loved the guitar. I would have liked to learn to play better." There was silence for a moment. "Speaking of," Peter finally said, "you have a family waiting for you down on Earth, so let's get you home. Star-Lord turned on a heel and started back towards his chair.

"Hey!" Kamala called out. In her nervousness, she more shouted than called. Everyone glanced at her. "Um… When do you figure we'll be within phone radius for Earth…?"

Rocket chimed in from the cockpit. "Once we pass the rock with the ring, you should be able to make a call."

"He's right," Star-Lord added, "About ten minutes, I'd say. Then we'll be patched into the extended radius of Stark's satellites. He'll foot the phone bill."

* * *

Then, she was alone, with ten minutes to kill.

Kamala lifted her phone up and decided to check a few of her websites. She had gotten a lot of comments and upvotes on her Avengers fanfic, but now she was considering putting it on hiatus to write one about the Guardians (who were cool with the idea of fiction being written about them). It saddened her to find that there were only five or six stories about the Guardians, where people had used them as minor character in place of the Avengers. Now, she still fully admitted to being an Avengers fangirl, but the Guardians deserved a front page story on .

She noticed that her phone was dying and decided to stop browsing the internet. She'd already packed her charger and that meant that it was gone until she unpacked.

She thought about big and small again. She had been blessed with that exact ability, to grow big and small. None of that had ever changed her idea of being part of something bigger, but happy to be small. Having traveled a part of the galaxy, and seen so many things, Kamala found that it wasn't everything that she had expected it to be. There was an expectation of excitement and fear. That was there. Definitely, the fear was there. But, she could never get her mind away from the idea of how much she would like to get home. One of those thoughts came from the idea that, if something were to happen out here, her parents would never know. They'd never have a body. She loved it out here, and she looked forward to continuing her career as a sort-of astronaut. But, home was calling. Nakia, Bruno, and her family were waiting for her.

She heard Peter at the front of the ship.

"Star-Lord to Iron Man, I repeat, Star-Lord to Iron Man. This is the _Milano_ , warning you to prep the landing pad on your tower, because we're coming to drop off a friend."

" _This is Stark to Quill, need an ETA on your arrival._ "

"We're just passing Saturn, expect us in T-minus twenty-eight minutes."

" _Roger that._ "

* * *

Kamala checked her phone. She had a signal now, thanks to those satellites. She took a breath and punched in the number. The ringing was the most painful waiting period she ever had to wait. On the final ring, there was an answer.

* * *

" _Hello?"_

"Ammi?"

" _Kamala?"_

"Ammi! It's so nice to hear your voice."

" _Kamala, are you okay?"_

"I'm fine! I'm fine! I just… Is Abu home?"

" _Your father is at work."_

"What time is it?"

" _Nearly noon, where are you?"_

"I was napping, I'm on the bus coming home _."_

" _How was your trip?"_

"It was great, it was great… I just can't wait to be home."

" _Is that Kamala?"_ It was Aamir. " _Has she kept up with her prayers?"_

"Tell Aamir I've been praying and that I haven't made friends with any Pennsylvanian jinn."

" _Kamala? Are you sure you're alright? You sound… shaken?"_

"I've just really missed being home, Ammi…"


End file.
